Professional Background

Joan Lewis-Wambi, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor (tenured) and the Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Cancer Biology at KUMC. Dr. Lewis-Wambi received her Ph.D. in Cancer Biology in May 2002 from Rutgers University and she completed her post-doctoral training at Northwestern University (2002-2004) and at Fox Chase Cancer Center (2005-2008). Dr. Lewis-Wambi has worked in the breast cancer field for over 15 years with expertise in estrogen receptor signaling, endocrine therapy resistance, triple negative breast cancer, and cancer health disparities. The focus of her lab is to understand the mechanism(s) by which breast cancer cells and breast tumors develop resistance to endocrine therapies and to develop alternative therapies for breast cancer patients. She utilizes unique human breast cancer cell lines, animal models, and clinical breast cancer samples to uncover the molecular underpinnings that drive the development of resistance in breast cancer patients. Additionally, her lab also studies triple negative breast cancer (TNBC) and inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) which are two aggressive and lethal subtypes of breast cancer that are difficult to diagnose and treat and disproportionately affect African American (AA) women compared to other ethnic groups. She has discovered a novel marker called interferon induced transmembrane protein 1 (IFITM1) that plays a critical role in promoting the aggressiveness of TNBC in African American patients. Dr. Lewis-Wambi has published ~45 research articles and she has received several honors and awards including, NIH Young Investigator Award, Avon Scholar, Susan G. Komen Scholar, WIMS-AAMC Scholar Award, and the KUMC Rising Star Scholar. Her research has been funded by grants from NIH, ACS, and the Department of Defense-BCRP.

  • PhD, Cancer Biology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
  • BS, Biochemistry, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ
  • Post Doctoral Fellowship, Breast Cancer and endocrine resistance, Nothwestern University, Chicago, IL
  • Post Doctoral Fellowship, Breast cancer and endocrine resistance, Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA
  • American Association for Cancer Research, Member, 1996 - 2018